MUNCIE – You’ve heard of the Isosceles Triangle and the Bermuda Triangle.

But have you heard of Indiana’s Manufacturing Triangle?

Chances are that if you’re reading this you live in or near the Manufacturing Triangle, the new designation for an area that includes three once-mighty manufacturing cities: Muncie, New Castle and Anderson.

Among them, the three cities lost an estimated 40,000 manufacturing jobs in the past two decades as factories, including Chevrolet and BorgWarner in Muncie, closed.

But a group of collaborators from the three cities is working to try to win federal funds that could help reverse the triangle’s manufacturing fortunes.

“The partnership among the cities, the collaboration, makes a huge difference,” said Pam Price, executive director of the ECI Regional Planning District. “If ABC Company wants to move to Indiana because of its great business climate, they don’t care if they’re in Yorktown or New Castle. They know their workers will come from all over the region. They want a good place to live.

“This regional effort is all about those needs and creating jobs rather than just looking at what’s going to work for downtown Muncie or downtown New Castle,” Price added.

The Regional Planning District — which includes the mayors of all three cities as well as other government, business and community leaders from Muncie, New Castle and Anderson — last week launched its latest initiative.

Previous steps from the district have included efforts to win $20 million in federal grant money to redevelop former industrial areas and create jobs. No word has come on that 2013 effort, but Price’s group will continue to pursue it.

And, in the meantime, they’ll pursue other economic development as a region. They’ll do it as a partnership, however.

Taking a regional approach to economic development isn’t new but has had varying degrees of success in the area.

Energize-ECI is a multi-county economic development agency that has tried to attract business to its partner communities. Cooperation among the counties is greater than it was years ago, when Energize officials told The Star Press that individual communities were known to tear their pages out of Energize promotional packages and distribute them solo.

The regional approach to attracting businesses and jobs — and federal funding — is seen as preferable because it gives a wider choice of potential sites and broader workforce that businesses can choose from.

The ECI Regional Planning District is funded, to this point, by $300,000 provided by a federal grant and contributions from the three cities.

At a kick-off program in Anderson on Wednesday, the district’s leaders announced what amounts to “a plan to do what is necessary to attract good manufacturing jobs,” Price said.

Among the high points of the plan: Retool education for future advanced manufacturing, strengthen focus on target industries, reinvest in urban neighborhoods and prioritize quality of life investments.

For Muncie specifically, the group wants to pursue redevelopment of the former near-downtown Chevrolet plant — now in the hands of Racer Trust, which is handling old General Motors properties — as well as the former Indiana Steel and Wire and King Forge property on the city’s east side, boost manufacturing training accessibility and develop a strong corridor between downtown and Ball State University.

“I think it’s very doable,” Price added, noting that the three cities have issues in common besides the loss of manufacturing jobs. The cities also have a core of outdated housing stock that needs to be rehabbed or replaced.

Also common among the three cities: “The mayors have all stepped up to the plate,” Price said. “They’ve put their time and their money and their staffs behind this because they felt it’s important.”

Assets to spare

Each of the three cities has assets that act as quality of place attractions for businesses and workers, including trails, green spaces and recreation facilities, Price said.

“Quality of place has such a huge impact on business attraction. We have bases we can build on in each community.”

“It’s been interesting to hear business leaders talk about common issues with workforce and livability,” Price said. “They want to make this the regional manufacturing triangle. They all want to be part of it and have a successful region.”

Contact Keith Roysdon at 765-213-5828 and follow him on Twitter: @keithroysdon